The New Swing Set

For a while now, we have been promising the kids we would get them a swing set.  Infact, it has been a few years now.  But things got tight financially, and we could not.  Well, we got our tax return, and we decided that most of it would go to emergency preparedness, the garden, fruit trees, etc., but we would spend some of it on a swing set.  So we looked around and did a lot of research.  We looked at lots of wooden ones, and metal ones.  Most of the metal ones were poorly made, and would have fallen apart easily.  Then we looked at the wooden ones.  They were either expensive (if they were well made-$1200), or poorly made, but affordable to us (thin wood and little - $400).  Then I found this one.  It was in our price range and all the online reviews for it were great.  It is German made, and extremely well built and strong.  One man in his review said it was the BMW of swing sets.  Not because it is big, or fancy, but because it is well built.  I also like it because it is different.  It usually cost about $600-700, but the price was reduced, and I got it for $480 and shipping was free.  It is not your typical swing set.  It doesn't have a slide, and to buy a slide attachment it costs about $400.  That seems a little steep.  So we asked them, and they said they didn't need a slide.  You can also get a gondala, or a surfswing (were two people can stand on a board like swing).    

It came on Monday at the beginning of spring break, and we worked on this all day.  The swing set needs to be cemented into the ground, so we had to dig holes, and buy some cement, and put it in.  We started a little afternoon, and finished by 8pm.  I did the putting together with a little help from the kids, Ossil did most of the digging.  The cement had to set, so the kids could not play on it until the next day.  It was torture for them.  They had a hard time seeing this beautiful swingset just sitting there crying out for some kids to come play on it, and no body could.  The swingset looks kind of small, but when we put it up, it was bigger than I thought, and I realized how small my yard is.  It is the perfect swing set for our yard, because anything  larger would have been way to big.  This won't put any shade on the plants I will grow next to it, and it is for bigger kids who like to climb.  My kids like to sit on the top and look at the mountains and the traffic go by.  When it gets hot, we can just spray it off with water.  We can also put a big sheet over the monkey bars to make a "house".  It also is unique, and well made, and the price was what we could afford.  We are excited about it.  So if anyone is looking to buy a well made, not too big, not too expensive swing set, get one of these.  Next time your kids come over, they can play on it.  

As I was looking at swingsets, I found some that were absolutely amazing.  They were like castles.  They probably cost $30,000 dollars.  Here is a picture of one I found.  This is bigger than my house.  These are probably something Bill Gates would get for his children.  I think I am happy with the one we have, and more importantly, my kids are happy with the one we have